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Write Now: Writing Strategies that
Instantly Elevate Your Writing
Vicki Lowery
David McCarty
Mary Purvis
Good legal writing does not sound as
though it was written by a lawyer.
Good legal writing, in general, is
writing that keeps the readers’
interests foremost.
Most lawyers and judges read almost exclusively on a computer
screen. So we must:
• Summarize
• Give bearings
• Cut the clutter
Anything that sets the reader to skimming or skipping must go.
The “F-Pattern”
Legal readers are now “skimming” more than we’re
“studying.”
Screen reading is literally changing how we read
documents including appellate briefs.
Screen Reading
• Speak Human
• Lead From the Top
• Guide Your Readers
Three Guiding Principles
Plain English
If you would not use a word or phrase when
speaking with a colleague, don’t use it in your
writing.
Speak human.
Avoid Stuffy Language
Not this: Pursuant to our conversation. . . .
But this: As we discussed. . . .
Not this: Subsequent to. . . .
But this: After. . . .
Avoid Stuffy Language
Not this: With respect to, With regard to,
Regarding, Concerning
But this: On, About, For, As for
Avoid Stuffy Language
Not this: Therefore, Consequently, or
Accordingly
But this: So, Thus, or Then
Avoid Legal Clichés
Not this: In the instant case. . . .
But this: Here, . . . .
Or this: The jury, here, . . . .
Not this: Assuming arguendo
But this: Even if
Which One Is Better?
But v. However
And v. Furthermore
So v. Consequently
Under v. Pursuant to
Lead From the Top
If you tell your audience what’s important,
they’ll look for that information as they read.
When you present that information later,
they’ll seize on it and it will “click” quickly,
like a puzzle piece snapping into place.
Lead From the Top
• Lead a brief with your conclusion
• Lead a section with a substantive heading
• Lead a paragraph with a summary sentence
• Lead an email with a strong subject line
Lead From the Top
Your leads all function as transitions.
And they prime your readers about what to look for.
Guide Your Readers
Sane people don’t read briefs for pleasure.
They read briefs because they’re expected to.
In fact, they don’t “read” them so much as they
“use” them.
Guide Your Readers
They want to know what to do next and
your job is to tell them.
What are you asking the court to do?
How can the judges and clerks get there?
• Introduction
• Issue
Statements
• Facts
• Argument
Sharpening Our
Knives
Introductions
Grab the Readers’
Attention
Hello
Narrative Nonfiction
In 1995, a group of men burst into a house,
ordered the occupants to lie down on the floor,
and opened fire; five people were killed.
Petitioner was the only person brought to trial.
He was tried in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, a
jurisdiction whose district attorney's office has a
long and disturbing history of failing to produce
exculpatory evidence to criminal defendants.
Simple Hook
Both the district court and the court of
appeals held that the equal protection
component of the Fifth Amendment’s due
process clause was violated when the
federal government imposed $363,053 in
estate taxes on the estate of Thea
Spyer simply because she was married to a
woman (respondent Edith S.
Windsor), instead of a man.
Emotional Stakes
After unceremoniously renouncing his parental
rights to his unborn daughter—Baby Girl—in a
text message and making no effort to see Baby
Girl for months after she was born, Father stepped
in at the eleventh hour to block an adoption that
was lawful and in the “best interests” of Baby Girl.
Vivid Words & Images
Oklahoma intends to execute petitioners by injecting
them with large amounts of a paralytic drug and
potassium chloride. The paralytic drug produces a
chemical entombment, paralyzing and eventually
suffocating the person. Potassium chloride feels
like liquid fire as it courses through the veins; it
eventually stops the heart. Throughout this process,
the paralytic drug ensures that observers see no
evidence of suffering, because the prisoner will be
completely paralyzed.
Think Like a Screenwriter
• Grab the reader from the get-go.
• Convey your theme—in a few sentences—at the outset.
• Weave that theme throughout your brief.
• Once you grab the reader, do not let go.
Consider framing your issue statements in multiple
sentences (premise-premise-question) stated simply in
75 words or less.
The idea is to get your point across in 90 seconds or less.
Deep Issue Statements
Under Louisiana law, a husband is presumed to be the
father of his wife’s child and must support the child
unless he denies paternity within one year of the child’s
birth. Rousseve did not deny paternity until five years
after Aleigha’s birth. Was he obligated to support
Aleigha until he proved that he was not her father?
Sample Deep Issue Statement
Improves upon the traditional one-sentence issue
statement in two ways:
(1) it’s easier to read and follow because it presents the key
context before asking the question, and it divides a long-
winded single sentence into a few shorter sentences; and
(2) it’s more persuasive because it gives a bit more freedom
presenting the law and facts, and it contains a syllogism
that strongly suggests the desired answer.
Deep Issue Statement
Let Your Facts Show,
Not Tell
The facts in the brief should read like
narrative nonfiction, a bit like something you
would read in The Atlantic or The New Yorker.
Show, Not Tell
Although Baker died before the significance of
his observations became known, his faithful
traveling companion—an Irish Setter who often
flew shotgun—was immortalized by a geologist
who dubbed the creek Baker had spotted “Red
Dog” Creek.
Let Choice Details
Speak for Themselves
Why mention an Irish Setter?
What does a shotgun-flying dog have to do with
the Clean Air Act or administrative law?
Draft Facts That Speak
for Themselves
John Roberts is litigating a classic federalism fight
between the states and the federal government.
So he “shows” you why the Red Dog Mine plays a
vital economic role without “telling” you what to
think.
Show, Not Tell
Operating 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, the
Red Dog Mine is the largest private employer in
the Northwest Arctic Borough, an area roughly
the size of the State of Indiana with a population
of about 7,000. . . .
Cut the Clutter
The easiest way to improve a fact or
background statement is to prune it.
Cut Dates; Convey Time
Replace dates with phrases that convey a
sense of time:
• “Shortly after”
• “Some months before”
Cut the Clutter
What works for background facts also works
for procedural history.
Cut the Clutter
Avoid “in its response to the Motion” and
other long procedural descriptors.
Favor “responds”
Cut the Clutter
Cutting clutter isn’t just about saving
words.
It’s also about turning down the noise so the
signal shines through.
So, trim fat, clutter, and other distractions
from your prose.
Using Document Design and
Structure to Hold Your
Readers’ Attention
Trend in Brief Writing
Sounding less like a lawyer in documents
designed to be more readable.
Document Design: Butterick’s
Chart of Fonts Graded from A-F
A List: B List:
Book Antigua Calibri
Garamond Century
Constantia
Corbel
Segoe UI
Document Design: Butterick’s
Chart of Fonts Graded from A-F
C List: F List:
Cambria ArialCentury Gothic Bradley Hand ltc
Consolas Bookman Old StyleCourier New Comic SansGeorgia Freestyle ScriptLucidia Console French Script
Document Design: Butterick’s
Chart of Fonts Graded from A-F
C List: F List:
Lucidia GabriolaLucidia Console MistralLucidia Sans Unicode PapyrusPlantagenet Cherokee Tempus Sans ITCGeorgia Trebucket ITC
Verdana
Garner’s Advice on Formatting
HeadingsMain heading in large boldface.
Subhead in regular boldface. Notice that in this heading, as in
the ones below, the indent is “hanging”—the second line of text
doesn’t begin at the left margin. This enhances clarity.
Second-level subhead in boldface italic. Notice that the italicizing makes the heading a tad smaller even though the typeface specifications are otherwise the same.
Third-level subhead in italic. Rarely will you need this level, but it’s good to have it available.
Structure of the Argument
Track the Court’s likely questions, not the record and
caselaw.
Give Bearings
The architecture of your writing must be
overt.
Make the logical structure obvious and
intuitive.
Help readers work less; connect the dots for
them.
Give Bearings
• Use outlines (visual structure is critical).
• Use numbered lists and bullet points.
• Use white space effectively (white space helps
readers).
Use Headings
• Use highly informative headings, preferably
full sentences that amount to succinct
propositions.
• You need headings, or bold assertions,
typically every one to three pages.
Use Headings
• Nest your headings and subheadings
(Russian Doll)
• Argue in the alternative
Use Umbrella Paragraphs
Include an umbrella paragraph before your
headings and subheadings.
Show the court a trailer.
Set the stage for the subheadings that follow.
Generate Your Structure
1. In each heading, offer a substantive reason
to do what your client is asking the Court to
do. Make headings persuasive.
2. In the first sentence of each paragraph
answer questions you expect the Court to need answered.
Generate Your Structure
3. Within each paragraph, explain how each
authority proves the first sentence true.
4. Between sentences, include transition
words and phrases to show how each
authority proves your point differently from
the others.
For the opening paragraph in a section (following a
heading or subheading), echo the heading or
subheading without heavy-handedly repeating it. Be
artful here.
Remember that your paragraph must be self-
contained, without reference to the heading or
subheading.
Bridge the Gap: Linking
Headings and Topic Sentences
Readers crave smooth transitions between
paragraphs.
Otherwise, it’s hard to know how the first
sentence of a new paragraph connects to
what came before.
Bridge the Gap: Linking
Paragraphs
Use a “kicker sentence” to set up a series of points
that you will elaborate on in the following
paragraphs.
Bridge the Gap: Linking
Paragraphs
Connect the end of one paragraph to the
beginning of the next to maintain narrative flow.
Specifically, embed a transitional word in each
topic sentence (beginning with the second
paragraph of a section).
Bridge the Gap: Linking
Paragraphs
Pointing words (this, that, these, those) because they
point to something immediately preceding.
Echo links which are words that repeat an idea in
summary language or otherwise reverberate from
what has just preceded.
Explicit connectives (by contrast, finally, further, in sum, likewise, etc.) which are obvious transitional
words.
3 Options for Creating Bridges:
Use all three devices to establish continuity from
paragraph to paragraph.
Study the use of transitional words in first-rate
nonfiction (the Atlantic, the New Yorker, the
Economist)..
3 Options for Creating Bridges:
Lay your foundation for bridging by reinforcing the
main idea in the last sentence of a paragraph,
setting up the topic sentence of the next to
highlight the connection between the two.
Creating Bridges
Read the last and first sentences of successive
paragraphs to see whether they join smoothly. If
not, consider whether you’ve omitted some part of
your argument.
Creating Bridges
• Use verbal markers to guide your readers through the
unfolding of ideas.
• Introduce lists of points or ideas explicitly before
enumerating.
• Never allow yourself to quote words that you haven’t
properly introduced.
Additional Tips for Smoothing Out
the Narrative Within Paragraphs
• Whenever possible, keep your subject and verb close
together; try putting any modifying phrases at the
beginning of the sentence.
Not this: Smith, in his motion, claims. . . .
But this: In his motion, Smith claims. . . .
Additional Tips for Smoothing Out
the Narrative Within Paragraphs
• Avoid throat-clearing language, e.g, It is important
to note that. . . .
• Use short sentences, plain words, active voice, and
specific rather than general terms to make your
writing sound more natural.
Additional Tips for Smoothing Out
the Narrative Within Paragraphs
• Break up long, complex sentences.
• Even if your arguments are technical or complex, your
sentences never should be. The more complex the
ideas, the simpler the sentences conveying them
should be.
• Vary the length of your sentences while aiming for an
average of 17-20 words per sentence.
Additional Tips for Smoothing Out
the Narrative Within Paragraphs
Every sentence should related directly to the ones
next to it.
Avoid “bumps” or unheralded shifts in the narrative.
If you’re darting off in a new direction, you’ll create a
“bump” unless you include a contrasting connective—
usually a word such as but, even so, or yet.
Creating Connections at the
Sentence Level
• Phrases that Pay: Key Terms of the Rule
• Strategic Use of Repetition
Making Key Points Stick
Phrases-That-Pay
If your argument is based in whole or in part on
well-established statutory or common law rules, you
can structure your argument by looking for each
rule’s “key terms.”
Phrases-That-Pay
By focusing on one phrase-that-pays within each
subsection, you ensure that you’re focusing on
one issue or sub-issue at a time.
Phrase-That-Pays:
In Plain View
IF a person exposes activities to the plain view of
outsiders, THEN those activities are not protected
against observation by the Fourth Amendment’s
search and search limitations.
Build a bridge between paragraphs by
repeating or recasting a key term from the
end of the first.
Repeating key words or phrases connects two
points in the readers’ minds.
Another effective bridging technique is
simply to list reasons that the last thing you
wrote is true.
Strategic Use of Repetition
Strategic use of
repetition of key facts
and legal concepts
throughout a brief
help bind together
stories and legal
criteria.
Add Speed
• Start sentences with short, punchy words;
• Use short and varied transitions; and
• Vary the “signposts” that help the readers track the
brief ’s logic.
Add Speed
Most lawyers stick to the 8 or so tried-and-
true transition words: consequently, moreover.
These heavy-handed transitions become a
crutch that communicates little to the
reader other than that another point is on
the way.
Add Speed
But a great advocate might use 50 or more light
connectors.
Ross Guberman offers a comprehensive list of 100-
plus transition words and phrases.
These signposts are arranged according to the
goal for the sentence.
Add Speed
But the EPA cannot claim that ADEC’s
decision was “unreasoned.” Nor can the EPA
assert that. . . . How to control emissions
within those standards, without exceeding
available increments, was for the State to
decide.
Add Speed
At bottom Say
Under that approach And so
By extension In any event
To this end Instead
Because Thus
Indeed As in
Add Speed
Spice Up Your Prose
Spice Up Your Prose
• Zinger Verbs
• Visual Images
• Figures of Speech
• Cultural References
Zingers: Evocative Verbs
Choice verbs enliven your prose, painting
pictures in the reader’s mind that animate your
legal analysis.
Bryan Garner offers 100-plus picturesque verbs.
Ross Guberman shares 50 zinger verbs.
Noah Messing lists about 200 trim verbs.
Zingers
The elected governments of the States are actively
confronting the challenges DNA technology poses to
our criminal justice systems and our traditional
notions of finality, as well as the opportunities it
affords. To suddenly constitutionalize this area
would short-circuit what looks to be a prompt and
considered legislative response.
Zingers
“Short-circuit” conjures up sparks,
malfunctions, destruction: the very sorts of
images the Chief wants you to see.
Visual Images
“Wherever possible, use pictures, maps, diagrams,
and other visual aids in your briefs. Some lawyers
seem to think a word is worth a thousand
pictures. The reverse, of course, is true. Seeing a
case makes it come alive to judges.”
Hon. Richard A. Posner, Effective Appellate Brief Writing, LITIGATION NEWS, available at
http://apps.americanbar..org/litigation/litigationnews/trial_skills/appellate-brief-writing-posner.html (last visited
July 27, 2012).
Metaphors and Analogies
Justice Scalia’s line of
questioning at oral
argument highlighted an
analogy popular among
conservative pundits:
comparing the individual
mandate to the federal
government forcing people
to purchase broccoli.
The “Perfect” Analogy?
Metaphors and Analogies
Justice Roberts and Bob Dylan
“The absence of any right to the substantive recovery
means that the respondents cannot benefit from the
judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing.
‘When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’”
“You Don’t Mess Around with Jim!”
Eleventh Circuit Judge Carnes opened a recent opinion with: “In one of his ballads, Jim Croce warned that there are four things you just don’t do: ‘You don’t tug on Superman’s cape/ You don’t spit into the wind/ You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger/ And you don’t mess around with Jim.’ He could have added a fifth warning to that list: ‘And you don’t let a pistol-packing mother catch you naked in her daughter’s closet.’”
Cultural References
Find creative ways to link the law to the
treasure trove of shared general culture.
• Song lyrics
• Proverbs
• Idioms
• Literary Allusions
Cultural References
“Thus, in bankruptcy, as in life, the more
money we come across, the more problems
we see.”
Notorious B.I.G. Mo Money Mo Problems on Life after Death (Bad Boy) Arista 1997.
Cultural References
• Google is a metaphor for effective legal
writing.
• Strive to create briefs that address
complex legal issues, yet are simple and
useful.
• Think of your work as more creative and
inventive.
Google = Legal Writing
THE ART OF LEGAL WRITING: MEN WALK ON MOON
Strong Written Advocacy for the Busy Professional
The action of respondents in excluding minor
petitioners from admission to Sousa Junior
High School solely because of race or color and
in refusing to permit adult petitioners to enroll
their children in Sousa Junior High School
solely because of race or color deprives
petitioners of their liberty and property without
due process of law in contravention of the Fifth
Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States.